Curricular Unit:			Code:
Urban Intervention Project I			270PIU1
Year:	Level:	Course:	Credits:
4	Master	Architecture and Urbanism	11 ects
Learning Period:		Language of Instruction:	Total Hours:
		Portuguese/English	143
Learning Outcomes of the Curricular Unit:
The course aims to prepare the student to diagnose the main problems of urban character regarding an urban area of extended dimension, morphologically non-consolidated or heterogeneous, elaborating on the interdependencies between urban models and fabrics, road hierarchy, public space structure, etc. As a consequence, the student should be able to define a program for his project that is consistent with the earlier produced diagnosis and promotes territorial improvement, supporting it within the urban potentialities and conditionings of the site, identifying the positive aspects to develop and/or to seize as project resources. In the process, the student will become capable of dominating the different project phases/scales, the formal and functional structure of the proposal and the interaction between these and the legal planning regulations applicable, as well as to support theoretically their project options and also clearly communicate the results orally, visually and in writing.
Syllabus:
1 – TERRITORIAL ANALYSIS AND URBAN PARADIGMS 1.1 – “Urban fabrics” and “morphological territories”: Elements of Urban Composition, Compact City/Modern City/Garden-City, Scales of analysis and project 1.2 – Urban analysis: mobility and road hierarchy, “urban” fabrics (typologies, forms and functions), natural and built heritage, land uses and equipments, structure of public spaces, ecological structure 2 – URBAN RESTRUCTURING AND URBAN FORMS 2.1 – Urban Setting 2.2 – (Elements of) Urban structure 2.3 – Urban fabrics and elements’ inter-relation 2.4 – Urban Morphology/Typology of Urban Spaces 2.5 – Form/function articulation 3 – FROM CONCEPT TO NORMATIVE INSTRUMENTS 3.1 – Order and freedom in urban regulation 3.2 – Design and regulation 3.3 – The adoption of regulation variables
Demonstration of the Syllabus Coherence with the Curricular Unit's Objectives:
Chapter 1 familiarises the student with the main aspects that inform urban analysis, through the reference to paradigmatic urban theoretical models and the recognition of its presence in the territory, guiding him in the systematization of knowledge that allows him to diagnose the intervention site. Chapter 2 brings forth the fundamental issues of «urban form» and their application in the project area, focusing on the articulated control of the geophysical/morphological aspects that have higher expression in a proposal at scale 1:2000. Chapter 3 addresses the normative instruments, namely the existing Urban Plans, and stimulates their understanding and reference as «creative» project resource. Throughout the semester, the presentations of the various phases of the proposal constitute moments of discussion that explore the theoretical grounding and foster the being at ease in public, at the same time they test the ability of passing the message through, orally, visually and in writing
Teaching Methodologies (Including Evaluation):
The methodology of this CU consists, essentially, of tutorial guidance, supported and complemented by lectures and collective class debates. In parallel with the project development, three short-span exercises are proposed: one of a practical nature that directly feeds the project's process, and two of a theoretical character that require critical thought about the ongoing work. The assessment method is divided in two components: the practical-experimental component – that integrates two project presentations, one exercise of space definition at the construction level and the evaluation of the student’s performance throughout the semester – and the theoretical component, based on two exercises – the critical analysis of a public space, similar in scope to the project's, and the elaboration of an individual portfolio. The final grade will be the result from the achieved classification in each one of this assessment moments, which will be accounted in different percentages.
Demonstration of the Coherence between the Teaching Methodologies and the Learning Outcomes:
The tutorial supervision, the main support of knowledge transmission in this CU, allows the student’s individual orientation, responding to the comprehension difficulties and gaps of each student, but also stimulating each one’s potentialities. It is, thus, a fairer teaching method, within the inequality it assumes, that more easily fits with appropriate guidance, both to different kinds of students and their individual process/progress, and to the different project outcomes. The development of this process in class enables and encourages the discussion between students and within the class group as a parallel process of learning, which is converted in «informal (guided) debate» whenever pertinent. Lectures intend to inform the class about aspects of more abstract/general character, whether related to the analysis and proposal processes, with their representation or with the approach to the case study area's specificities, in order to establish a common collective basis for the above mentioned individual supervision. It is, therefore, assured to the student a personalised orientation adjusted to his progress, that follows the ideas of each student, seeking to fill in their gaps and explore their potential, encouraging a work/study process that goes beyond the contact hours and, in the end, contributing to optimise these. Simultaneously, the need to use adequate justification sustaining the design outcomes promotes the student’s responsibility for the choices made and supports his gradual autonomy. At the beginning of the semester, an exercise of a practical character, to be developed in groups of 3 students for a period of 3/4 weeks, underpins the first knowledge about the intervention area, which is driven by the requirement to study pre-defined themes, bringing forth the first internal discussions, later extended to the other groups. At the end of this exercise the gathering of a cluster of information Is considered the support for the rise of individual processes of deepening the early analysis and of project, as the basic domain over the articulation between scales of representation and the elements of the new urban context is considered achieved. By the middle of the semester, the analysis of a text whose content is closely related to the course themes configures a second short-span exercise – this one of a theoretical nature – and the moment for critical reasoning on the proposal which is translated in a paper that crosses and confronts some aspects of the text with the project’s work developed so far. The last exercise, again of a theoretical nature – the portfolio – to be presented in the last session of the semester, aims to confront the student with his individual development path, contributing to the awareness of his own design process through an exercise of self-assessment, which is the basis of every evolution.
Reading:
[1] Cullen, Gordon (1996). Paisagem Urbana. Lisboa. Edições 70 (Ed. Orig. 1971). [2] Kostoff, Spiro (1991). The city shaped: urban patterns and meanings through history. London: Thames and Hudson. [3] Lynch, Kevin (1999). A boa forma da cidade. Lisboa. Edições 70 (Ed. Orig. 1981). [4] Lynch, Kevin (1999). A imagem da cidade. Lisboa. Edições 70 (Ed. Orig. 1960). [5] López de Lucio, Ramón (2007). Construir Ciudad en la Periferia. Madrid. Mairea Libros. [6] Masboungi, Ariella; Manguin, David (2009). Agir sur les grands territoires. Paris: Le Moniteur. [7] Panerai, Philippe et al (1999). Analyse urbaine. Marseille. Éditions Parenthèses. [8] Rodrigues, José Manuel (coord.) (2010). Teoria e crítica de arquitectura: século XX. Lisboa: Ordem dos Arquitectos. [9] Schenk, Leonhard (2013). Designing Cities. Basics, principles, projects. Birkhauser. [10] Secchi, Bernardo (2006). Primeira lição de urbanismo. São Paulo. Editora Perspectiva (Ed. Orig. 2000).